Game of Survival
by eternallydaydreaming
Summary: When Vegeta's childhood friend is found dead, Vegeta struggles to consolidate the sins of his people while trying to protect his family from a vengeful killer.


Stepping out of his ship, Jaco's mouth dropped in awe. He couldn't believe his eye on how big the cargo bay was for the Intergalactic Central Command. Rows upon rows of loading docks scaled the walls. Exactly how many people reported to high command?! Well, naturally it was the Galactic Patrol's largest facility; still, Jaco did not anticipate the kind of labyrinth the base truly was. To say it dwarfed his home base was a grave understatement. Even as he walking down the main hallways, Jaco found himself backpedaling quite a bit to change direction. Even with multiple maps interspersed throughout the building, he still found himself walking in circles at times. Yet a little voice inside of him insisted that he had no need to ask for directions.

It felt like hours before he found the door with stencil-like lettering that read "Homicide Division." He finally found his destination. However, he had no idea why he was here to begin with. He paused a few moments, debating on how to properly introduce himself. Jaco rightfully knew he was out of place here despite being personally summoned by the supervising detective. Naturally he had no choice but to oblige and make the long trip out to the center of the universe.

Taking in a sharp inhale, Jaco stepped forward and allowed the automated doors to slide open. The room was just as expansive as the rest of the headquarters. A large central room was lined end-to-end with tables full of agents working away: typing up reports, fielding calls, or studying over rather explicitly detailed crime scene pictures. Jaco felt his stomach churn at the site of one body that had been burned beyond recognition. You would have needed to read the case file to see what planet the person was originally from.

Looking up, Jaco noted that the walls themselves were nothing more than a series of various offices and conference rooms. While the general set up was reminiscent of his home office, the size was far more intimidating. No one even seemed to take notice of the outsider, standing around dumbly waiting to be attended to.

"Jaco!"

Jaco whipped his head toward the direction he heard his name called, and spotted a big burly man with a large white mustache that extended down to the bottom of his chin. The man's straight as a board posture and deep booming voice exuded superiority.

_That must be the lead detective._

"Agent Rippa?" Jaco presumed, making his way to the other side of the room. He breathed a sigh of relief when the man accepted his extended hand without correcting him.

"Glad you can join us."

"Thank you for inviting me," Jaco's voice hitched with uncertainty though he tried to hide it. "However, I'm not completely sure why I _am_ here."

"Please, follow me," Rippa motioned toward the conference room assigned to them. "All will be clear soon enough."

As he entered the room, all heads suddenly snapped in his direction. Jaco wanted to shrink away from the scrutinizing eyes. Especially the homicide detective from his station – Detective Strangla. Jaco quickly broke eye contact and found an empty chair at the large round table. All seats had a tablet waiting for them. It would seem Jaco was the last to arrive as all tablets, except for one, were occupied as all who were present stared intently at the screen, reading over the information. As soon as Jaco took his seat, he was relieved that Rippa immediately welcomed all the agents and commenced with the meeting.

"Thank you all for taking the time for this meeting. Some of you have traveled a great distance across the universe specifically for this case. However, I feel this is a circumstance that we cannot ignore. As you all know, the tablet in front of you is a compiled file of various homicide scenes from different planets, spanning from multiple galaxies."

As Jaco began to reach for the tablet, Rippa cut the lights and turned on the projector, illuminating the front screen with a grid of grizzly pictures of the victims. Jaco swallowed the lump in his throat and repeated "don't throw up" over and over in his head. Still, he managed to force himself to stare at the bloodied, and in some cases, mutilated bodies. Men, women, and children – all equally disregarded. One child was strangled and hung by his own intestines. Some of the victims looked humanoid while others where clearly of distinct races. One woman graced a light blue skin tone. In another picture was a man with scaly gray skin whom Jaco assumed was herpetoid.

"Has anyone established a connection between the victims? These all look like isolated cases to me," a female detective inquired. Jaco couldn't see her name badge from where he was sitting, but like everyone else, he assumed there must have been a connection otherwise there was no point to be talking about these cases. Unlike Jaco, every other detective in the room was assigned to one of these cases, but given the the fact that these events occurred far from each other and over the span of three years, it would be difficult to link them together. Working in isolation was the only option these detectives had.

Scrolling through the pictures on his own tablet, Jaco narrowed his eyes as if it would help him focus more closely on a unifying clue all the while praying he can keep his lunch down. Finally one picture caught his interest. The man was laid out carefully on the floor. Unlike the other pictures in which every victim appeared to be left exactly how the fell. However, that was not the most noteworthy observation. Jaco's eyes traced over the furry appendage and let out a light gasp. Then he began furiously scrolling back through the previous pictures. Some of the other humanoid victims, though not all, had the same type of tail. Still, Jaco now had a relatively reasonable hypothesis that may tie the cases together even though he was at a loss of how this could be possible at all. Jaco raised a shaky hand, but without even waiting to be called on, he blurted out his question.

"Some of these victims...they are Saiyans, aren't they?"

"Yes," another detective chimed in. "We almost weren't able to make that connection either if it wasn't for our new database system."

"What database?"

"Our new genomic library," Rippa began. "We started cataloging the DNA fingerprint of repeat offenders. Then we cross-linked our databases with other academically based databases where genomic sequencing projects have been taking place. We have had cases in which we were unable to identify the victim's race, especially ones that resemble closely to other races, such as these humanoid victims. We do know of at least four humanoid races that physically resemble each other but have very distinctive genetic markers that differentiates those races. Our database cross referenced these victims," Rippa clicked a button and then only the humanoid victims' pictures were displayed, "and found that they contain the same genetic markers shared with other known Saiyans – Goku and Vegeta – whom we have their DNA sequence in our library. This was quite useful as some of these Saiyans no longer had their characteristic tails. But it was through this method that we discovered the link."

The male detective from earlier took this as his queue to speak once again. "When I was cross referencing my case, a secondary algorithm flagged other murder cases that also involved Saiyans. Ten cases total with eleven full-blooded Saiyans, their spouses, and any offspring born are now dead."

"All but one," Rippa interjected while changing the pictures from grotesque houses of horrors to an adolescent girl's mug shot. "This is Kyuri. She's a full-blooded Saiyan – the only child born from two Saiyan parents. How the two crossed paths is beyond me. The odds of being off planet the day planet Vegeta was destroyed was quite low let alone having multiple Saiyans on the same planet. These Saiyans as you can see have already been scattered across vast reaches of the universe, which is why it took so long to make any connection. Regardless, Kyuri is our only witness and she refuses to talk."

"If she's a victim and an eyewitness, why the mug shot? Is she in custody?"

The detective working Kyuri's family's case, the same one who noticed the link, sighed out his irritation before proceeding. "When she was first found, she was drenched in her family's blood while clutching to her father's body. When patrolmen tried to approach her, she attacked. One ended up with a broken arm."

Flipping through the file, Jaco found the associated detective's name – Detective Srasha.

"You see," Srasha continued, "initially we had no other suspects for the case and combined with her attacked, Kyuri became our prime suspect in the murder of her parents and younger brother. We assumed it was a domestic dispute. But as you know, we now believe this is a much bigger issue. A serial killer perhaps. Or an organized group working together. Either way, the girl did assault the patrolmen, has shown hostility toward us to the point we cuffed her with ki suppressors to ensure our safety, and she refuses to talk to us."

"Can you blame her?" Strangla chided.

Jaco was never too fond of Strangla, who has proven himself a cocky son of a bitch. He was a good detective, but he also knew all too well.

"If these are indeed interconnected homicides," Strangla continued, "then why the hell is Jaco even here? He's more of your petty theft division kind of guy. He's out of his league here."

Jaco's cheeks burned as a series of snickers rang out across the table. He was more than just "petty theft." He investigated networks of criminal organizations who happened to organize heists and commit extortions. He even investigated black market trades and occasionally the weird unlawful acts against nature like attempts in time travel. Though he gladly can admit he does not have the stomach for death.

Rippa flashed a new image onto the screen, which brought the attention of the detectives and reduced the snickers to silence. This time, the picture showed a young boy in traditional Saiyan armor. The boy had the distinctive thick black hair that stuck out at odd angles that cascaded down the back of his neck and rested at his shoulders. The armor itself was polished and seemed more ceremonial rather than practical. That's when Jaco noticed the royal emblem on his left chest.

"This, gentlemen, is Kohlrab. This is the childhood photo of one of our victims, who also is Kyuri's father."

"What's his affiliation with the royal family?"

"His father was the head war councel general. That made him one of King Vegeta's top advisors. Kohlrab, being only two weeks older than Prince Vegeta, most likely trained along side him. Probably was groomed to be the prince's future advisor. This why I brought Jaco in."

Rippa turned to Jaco as if he was about to impart on him an important mission.

"Jaco, you personally know Vegeta. We need you to bring him here. He might be the only person who can build rapport with Kyuri and get her talking. She's our only witness so any information we can extract from her would be of great use."

Jaco nodded his understanding though his mind raced frantically, trying to devise how this conversation should proceed for one does not just walk up to a prince and tell him what to do.


End file.
